Dehydration apparatus



Feb. 20, 1951 H. WHITLEY DEHYDRATION APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledNOV. 9, 1946 3 wue/Mom H H L Y E V R A H Feb. 20, 1951 H. WHITLEY2,542,607

DEHYDRATION APPARATUS Filed Nov. 9, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG '2 HARVEYL. W HITLEY Feb. 20, 1951 H. L. WHlTLEY 2,542,607

DEHYDRATION APPARATUS Filed Nov. 9, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet- 3 x m p l 0 gHARVEY LWHITLEY iwhich heated. :air iisha sedland .1,.s.aid zuc lf ld vbeing. adapted to :have placed-therein so;

handling purposes. "storing an additional-quantity of truckshavingPatented Feb. 20, 1951 Ha ve Wh t y, tli emonti NaipiiZiGla m 11 .iThis,invention relates etoaapparatus sfora nrine obacco, and relates;moreeespeciallyeto dry n nd istorage k .house :having .izcorridors i 'kQll h -.whe e d .rlilllnks onwhichiwtheasticks i leaves i are.nlacedwhere y a -.c1. rent 1;. heate iairrmay enassed th ou es/aidcorridors and ou the t ba oaleavest vd set e ame-wit meanshf r t r n aditional:- tr eks l aded it :tobacco ,riorpa yell w n operat:whichtrueks can he fed into; the line of: other trucks, for passi pro rssively th u h th the tede orr dorrp cor lidors, for; cur n the same-.ndfsa djhuildins .ihaving an' ,upstairs storage-compartment so th atwhen th tohaq o .is .cu dth ..tru an e el rvated a d pl ced in stor m te. second tQ y of the buildin It is; ank-robject ofc this J invention toprovide .a It ha sz zc rinsisy t wh inacl ine compartment. is providedand 4 if desired, there could be provided above the curing compartmenta; storage .cflmpartment andithe curing compartment is divided intocorridorswhichhareiadapted to receive a plurality wofewheeled trucks,and saidcwhfieled trucks be n ada ted to ece v .a p urality. .LQ.sticissi avine bunches of tobacco leare ith eon to und r o a curin prcess, w th means ifo heating and'jforcing airthrough one or more of i cdo and wit a ent atin I a ,h ",videdior inducingthe airthroughthecorridors.

' Means are also provided whereby humidification --may be --impartedduring the curing ;-process -or after the ;curi ng process is"completed, whereby =the'- humidified airmaybe forced-i through thetobacco leaves ''for bringing them-- inorder for Means-are-aiso providedfor green tobacco leaves thereon-which can be ---fed into the stream oftrucks to replace the cured :trucks which are" removed -from thecuringde- -partment.

Itis another=object ofthisinvention-to provide apparatusfor handlingtobacco,:suchas our-ing f the same and 1 bringing the same =into= orderfor handling purposes after the-same is-=cured;-in

which means are provided for heating and:forc- :ing air. throughdefinite corridors-twithinzythe building, the v said corridorsbeingz-provideds with suitable ;doors whereby ione :or more corridors atragtime can be used for curing .the tobacco, vdepending upon the:quantity ofqtobacco. desired to be cured at one' time, with meansforstoring; ad- :ditionaLtobacco 1J0;'b8,;.01118d and progressing -the1tobacco',:1oaded :onto:-truck,s-, ;.through.1;said-;corridors andreplenishing theeured tobacco with the ether tobacco 'stored outside ofthe corridors through which heated ai-rds forced; so: that when thetobacco is cured, it can be transferred to astoragecompartment-disposed-in the upper story -of the building,-iii-desired. lf desired, the tobacco canbeleftin the corridors and whenit is-desired to bring it into order by creating-the proper amount ofhumidity within thetobacco -leaves to avoidcrumbling-or shattering, "thesame heating means can a be employed for forcing humidified air throughthe corridor in- Which-the=t0bacc0 -leaves are stored'for imparting theproper amount of-humi'd-ifi-eatiorr -to the"tobacco leaves so that*they-will stand handling without damage-thereto.

It's-is'another-obiect-ofa this-invention to provide -a means-fordehydrating vegetable matter ofany kind such a tobacco -1eaves,--cut"grass for-- con- --vertingthesameinto hay-fior dehydrating fruit, andiii-fact processingany vegetable or other -g-rowth'for removing themoisture thereirom and providing-wheeledtrucks' for supporting thematter:to -be-dehydrated-and providing corridors in a --suitab1ebuilding,- and-providingmeans on the eexter-ior -of the-building,"preferably, for forcing =heated=air r through the 'objectsbeing dehydrated, and, -"if edesired; humidifying. the objects after-they have been dried.

Some of i-rthe-i objects'of the invention having Tbeenestated,other-objects willappear as the deescriptionwproceedswhen taken inconnection with theaaccompanying drawings, 1 in which ':Figure at is.an: elevation of a curing: barn or ccuringmhouse-v-i-and showing meansfor creating :andforcingheated air through the curing house; *liigure211s. asectional plan r-view taken-along thexlinez-gz in": Figure 1,:and showing a portion got ;:the; secondfloorsin= plan;

:Figure'3a isia vertical-sectional.view taken sub- :stantially ialongethe'line :,3...3. in Figure 2;

FigureA is :a vertical-sectional-:view taken :along :the line. -4r4 in"Figure 2 Figure 5 is aqhorizontal sectional; view. ;showing v-i=r..-typieal: inner-wallsec-tion 10f the-;.building;

,EFigure-B ;;is a horizontal sectional -;view;- showing rcReferring morespecifically to=thedrawings, the numeral 10 indicates an outer casing ofasuitable 3 burners, not shown. Extending from casing 24 is a fuelsupply pipe 25 which leads to a storage tank 38, mounted on a suitablesupport 3|, and a liquid or gaseous fuel is supplied to the burners, notshown, from the tank 30. In the supply pipe 25 may be installed aconventional constant flow mechanism 34, if desired.

An exhaust pipe 36 for the burners, not shown, passes out through thetop of the casing l0.

Mounted on top of the outer casing In, by any suitable means, is a Watertank 38 having a pipe 39 leading therefrom with a valve 48 therein forcontrolling the flow of water therefrom so that the air being heated bythe burners may be humidified, if desired.

Covering the left-hand end of the casing [I] as shown in Figure l is ahousing 33 having a blower fan 4| in its upper portion,'said blower fanbeing driven by a belt 43, mounted on a V- pulley of a suitable electricmotor 45.

I The end of the casing I remote from the fan casing 33 has a duct 46covering the same, which duct leads into the dehydrating building to bepresently described.

In the form of heating unit thus far described, a liquid or gaseous fuelis adapted to be used; however, it is obvious that a coal or woodfurnace would work equally as well,

The dehydrating house, building, or barn is indicated broadly by thereference character 60. This tobacco barn, or other dehydratingbuilding,comprises end walls BI and 62 and side walls 63 and 64 with partitionsB5, 66 and 61. End wall 62 is provided with a swinging door 58 forclosing an opening 69, whereas end wall El has a swinging door ID forclosing an access opening 1i. There is provided a swinging door 12,hinged to the interior surface of end wall 62 for closing an opening inthe partition 66. Partition 6% stops short of the end of wall BI andaswinging door 73 is provided for closing the opening between the end ofpartition t6 and end Wall 6].

This arrangement of partitions and doors provides a plurality ofcorridors designated as A, B,

C and D. The duct 46 leading from the heating unit penetrates end wall62 and communicates with corridor A. At the other end of corridor A inend wall E2 may be provided a suction fan casing having a suction fantherein mounted on a shaft 15 which is driven by a V-belt 11, driven byan electric motor 18. There can also be provided at the end of corridorC in end wall 62 a similar suction fan casing 89, in which is mounted asuction fan 8| driven by a belt 83, driven in turn by an electric motor84. When it is desired to use the last-named suction fan, then, ofcourse, the suction fan 16 would not be employed but a board covering86, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, would be placed over thesuction fan casing 15 to close this opening, while suction fan TB wouldremain inoperative and the suction fan 8| would be made operative. Thiswould cause the heated air to be passed through corridors A, B, and C,and exhausted by suction fan 8|, whereas if corridors B and C were notdesired to be used, then door 13 could be closed and suction fan 76,with its cover 86 removed, would be rendered operativeto'p'ass theheated air only through corridor A.

The partitions B5, 66 and 6'! would extend upwardly and be joined toaceiling or second floor 96, supported by suitable ceiling joists 9|which would provide a storage compartment of the entire second floor ofthe building, and an opening 95 would be provided which would be closedby a suitable door, not shown, when a curing or do hydration process wasbeing carried out, and after the dehydration process is carried out, ifit is desired to store the dehydrated objects present in any one or allof the corridors A, B, and C, then this door would be removed from overopening and a suitable hoisting mechanism would be employed for hoistingthe trucks holding the dehydrated objects onto the second floor forstorage purposes. This second floor compartment could very easily beemployed in the processing of tobacco by bringing the tobacco in orderwhile in the corridors and then elevating it to the second floor andusing the second floor as a packing room for grading and packaging thesetobacco leaves into hands.

The outer walls and the doors are all of similar construction andcomprise an outer covering sheet I00 and an inner covering sheet llll,secured to suitable uprights I02 and said uprights having disposedtherebetween suitable boards H53, which preferably are of insulatingmaterial such as fibre board and the like These partitions 65, 6'6 and61 are of similar construction having outer sheet members I05 and IE6with a suitable insulating material Hl'i therebetween, but they arejoined slightly differently in that two uprights H18 and H39 are used atthe joints and this provides a staggered joint as shown in Figure 5which permits the length of the partition to be arranged as desired asany number of these sections can be joined together by suitable means,not shown, to provide a partition of the requisite length.

On each side of the partitions at the top and bottom, as well as at thetop and bottom of the inside of the outer walls, suitable quarter roundsI if) can be provided so that they can be removed easily and thepartition walls removed or installed very quickly. Also, the quarterrounds serve to prevent the trucks, to be presently described, fromrubbing against the walls and partitions of the building.

It is to be understood that this building and heating unit therefor canbe employed for dehydration of any desired article, but in the drawingsI have shown, it is especially equipped for the curing of tobacco. Thetobacco leaves are picked from the field and suitably secured to tobaccosticks NE in a conventional manner. I provide a plurality of wheeledtrucks comprising four upright corner angle iron members H1, joinedtogether by top angles H8 and bottom angles H9 mounted on four wheels30. There is also provided a plurality of longitudinal angles which areidentical to the top angles previously described. These top angles areadapted to support the ends of the tobacco sticks H6 which are filledwith bunches of tobacco leaves. The upper portion of the uprights H7 aresecured together by means of. suitable angle braces 123, while the lowerportion thereof is secured together by suitable angles !24. Suitablecorner plates are provided at the upper and lower portions of the truckto brace the same against losing its shape and making it much strongerfor handling purposes.

When it is desired to begin the curing of a barn of tobacco, the tobaccosticks with the tobacco leaves thereon are usually prepared outside ofthe barn, are loaded onto the trucks and after being placed on thesticks are placed in the wheeled trucks as shown in the drawings andcorridor A is filled. It is understood that these trucks are of suchheight as to fill the corridors almost to theeceiling to conserve space.If it is axsindll However, if .there should be a manner in Figure 2, andcorridor C can also be filled and the cover 85 can be placed oversuction fan '55 and suction fan rendered inoperative, and then suctionfan 8d can be energized and the heated air will be passed throughcorridors A, B, and C successively to dehydrate the material disposedtherein. If there is a surplus of material to be dehydrated, then aplurality of trucks with the tobacco leaves or other dehydratablematerial may be stored in corridor D where they will undergo a yellowingprocess and as the curing is about completed, and as the trucks areremoved from the left-hand end of corridor A, and the other trucks movedclockwise in corridors A and B and C, then additional trucks can betaken from corridor D and the doors i8 and '12 being closed, and door 73being open, these additional trucks can be fed into the left hand end ofcorridor C to continue the curing process.

In other words, when the corridors A, B and C are filled and the heat isturned on, the tobacco is processed in a conventional manner byadvancing the heat gradually until the leaf is dried in the truckadjacent the door l2. It is of course evident that the state of curingas the trucks extend down the corridor A from left to right will be lessadvanced. When the tobacco held by the first truck in the left-hand endof corridor A has been completely cured and the stems have been killed,this truck is removed by opening door i2 and one of the trucks in themiddle corridor B is inserted in the left-hand end of the corridor C andall of the other trucks having first been moved around in a clockwisemanner in corridors C, B and A, respectively. In this way, the uncuredor green tobacco is fed into the left-hand end of corridor C and thecured tobacco is taken out of the left-hand end of corridor A, thiscuring process continues until the entire crop of tobacco is completelycured as this can be a continued process with the cured tobacco beingwithdrawn from the hottest portion of the barn and the uncured orgreenest tobacco being inserted to move all of the other trucks aroundto progressively shift them toward the source of heat. In this way aperfect cure of the tobacco can be obtained and this has been impossibleby the old method, wherein the tobacco was stacked close together in abarn, tier above tier. It might be added that by this present method itis absolutely impossible to scald the tobacco on account of increasingthe heat at too rapid a pace. leretofore, in the old type of ouring,after the yellowing process has been carried out, the heat is advancedfrom at a rate of from three to five degrees per hour, because byadvancing it at a faster rate the tobacco will become scalded. Thereason theto-bacco becomes scalded in the old process is that there isnot proper ventilation through the tobacco leaves. By the presentinvention there is a current of heated air passing around all of thetobacco leaves which absolutely prevents scalding or sponging andenables the tobacco to be cured in a continuous process by withdrawingthe cured tobacco from the hottest part of the barn and progressing thetobacco around to take the place of the with- -drawn::toba;cco,: andfeeding atheogreen: tobacco at theicoole'stpart ofithez'barn inthecur-rent of heated air, because although rthe-temperatureofthe airenter'ing'the barn is.v around 175, by the time it passes through all ofthe other tobacco which is greener andg'reener- "until the heated airreaches-the exit portion,-this.heated air is robbed of its heat as itprogresses through theto-bacco so that when itstrikesithenewly. insertedtobacco 10 at the discharge en'd 'ofthe current of air this heatttwlllnot be above 100 o something in that ;neighborhoodand.therefore will'notdamage the green tobacco inserted in the line of flow of the stream ofheated air.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for thepurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

1. Apparatus for curing tobacco, comprising a building having a corridorextending from one end of the building to the other and a cross corridorextending along said other end of the building, a third corridorextending longitudinally along the other side wall of the building fromone end wall to the other, heat generating apparatus disposed adjacentthe first end of the building and having a duct leading into the firstmain corridor, a suction fan located at the end of the first corridorfor drawing heated air through the first corridor, a plurality of doorsfor connecting the corridors to the first-named corridor and a secondsuction fan located at the end of the third corridor for drawing heatedair from the heat generating apparatus along the corridors and out of 40the building, said corridors being adapted to have placed thereinwheeled trucks supporting a plurality of tobacco sticks with tobaccoleaves thereon for curing the same, a fourth corridor disposed betweenthe two corridors running parallel to the side walls and in whichadditional trucks loaded with tobacco leaves can be stored, the thirdcorridor having a door communicating with the fourth corridor wherebythe trucks stored in the fourth corridor can be fed into the thirdcorridor as all of the trucks are advanced around the corridors.

2. A tobacco-curing barn comprising a building having an upper story anda lower story, and having two end walls and two side walls, a pluralityof partitions disposed in the lower story and dividing the interiorthereof into a plurality of corridors, movable doors in said partitionsfor establishing communication between the corridors, suction fansdisposed in opposed end walls of the build- 60 ing for drawing airthrough the corridors, a heatgenerating member disposed on the exteriorof the building and having a duct leading through one of the walls ofthe building and communicating with one of the corridors, an impellingfan associated with the heat-generating means for forc ing heated airinto one end of the corridors, said suction fans serving to move the airthrough the corridors, means for closing some or" the suction fans whensaid doors are opened for establishing communication between more thanone of the corridors for creating a draft of heated air through thecorridors, said corridors being adapted to receive wheeled trucks,filled with tobacco leaves to be cured, the first and second stories 75having an opening therebetween through which the wheeled trucks with thetobacco leaves thereon, after being cured, may be transferred for ster-The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Wilson Jan. 5, 1886 Number Number 8 NameDate Bertrand Sept. 6, 1904 Hickey Sept. 10, 1912 Buhrer Apr. 29, 1913Jungels Jan. 20, 1914 Collins Oct. 5, 1915 Rea et a1 Jan. 20, 1920Touton Jan. 18, 1938 Altenkirch Jan. 2, 1940 Macy Apr. 15, 1941

